IBM (atoms)

Research

Donald Eigler and Erhard Schweizer of the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California, discovered the ability using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to move atoms about the surface. In the demonstration, where the microscope was used in low temperature, they positioned 35 individual xenon atoms on a substrate of chilled crystal of nickel to form the acronym "IBM". The pattern they created was 5 nm tall and 17 nm wide. They also assembled chains of xenon atoms similar in form to molecules. The demonstrated capacity showed the potential of fabricating rudimentary structures and allowed insights as to the extent of device miniaturization.